Transformation Optics Relay Lens Design for Imaging from a Curved to a Flat Surface

Abstract

Monocentric lenses provide compact, broadband, high resolution, wide-field imaging. However, they produce a curved image surface and have found limited use. The use of an appropriately machined fiber bundle to relay the curved image plane onto a flat focal plane array (FPA) has recently emerged as a potential solution. Unfortunately the spatial sampling that is intrinsic to the fiber bundle relay can have a negative effect on image resolution, and vignetting has been identified as another potential shortcoming of this solution. This thesis describes a metamaterial lens yielding a high-performance image relay from a curved surface to a flat focal plane. Using quasi-conformal transformation optics, a Maxwell's fish-eye lens is transformed into a concave-plano shape. A design with a narrower range of constitutive parameters is deemed more likely to be manufacturable. Therefore, the way in which the particular shape of the concave-plano reimager influences the range of needed constitutive parameters is explored. Finally, image quality metrics, such as spot size and light efficiency, are quantified.